Mr. Speaker, we do not need a large capacity ship on a regular basis. To spend $1 billion or $2 billion on a ship that might get used once every five years would be a waste of taxpayers' money. The Reform Party of course knows how to waste taxpayers' money.
Let me tell the House that all of our allies will use commercial ships as a means of getting their heavy equipment into different theatres. In fact, during the Falklands war the British used commercial ships to get all its equipment and its troops into the Falklands area.
There is nothing unusual about NATO countries doing this. We are spending the money in the best way for the taxpayer.